So you want to learn how to draw. Drawing, whether realistic portraits
or fun cartoons and Japanese manga, all starts with the basics. Each
type of drawing has its own quirks and perks so you will have to take
some time to study each category but at the very beginning you want to
focus on these simple tips to get you started.

Get the Right Drawing Materials: Pencil and Paper

No
matter what you do, you'll have to start with the right set of pencils
and paper. Start with the right type of paper. Avoid sheets that are
glossy because they can be too smooth, preventing the surface from
catching the granite of the pencil's lead. Don't go for old paper either
because they catch too much. Office paper and printing paper are some
of the best.

As
for pencils, this can be complicated depending on your preferences but
there is a standard that most artists stick with. For your initial
sketches and outlines you'll want faint lines and a hard pencil is best
for that. Go for an HB pencil for those initial outlines. When you want
to start adding darker lines and shades then shift to soft grade
pencils. Most artists use 2B, 4B, and 6B grade pencils for darker lines
and shading.

Start by Drawing Basic Shapes

Professional
artists can draw shapes and lines right out of their head but for a
beginner you will want to start with a template. The best way to create
your own template is to master the basic shapes. By mastering how to
draw an oblong or egg you can learn to draw a human face. By mastering
how to draw squares, rectangles, and angled lines you can draw the
template to draw gigantic robots and war machines.

The
first place to start is the egg shape. Master this along with oblongs
and circles. Use them to draw faces. This will help you study the proper
proportion of the human face and later the human body. By mastering
this you can use basic shapes to draw a human figure in any pose.

The Use of Guidelines

Going
along with the topic of basic shapes, you will want to learn how to use
guide lines. This is where the faint lines of an HB pencil come into
play. There are many simple templates you could learn to master. Here's a
good sample:

Guidelines in drawing the human face (cartoonish)

Start
by drawing an egg, with the point end at the bottom (it will serve as
your chin). You'll now want to draw a vertical line right down the
middle to divide the face into two equal parts. Now there are three
horizontal lines you will want to focus on. The first one is located 1/3
from the top and this will serve as the hairline or top edge of the
forehead. Halfway from the top draw another horizontal line and this
will serve as the area where you'll draw the eye line. The last
horizontal line is placed halfway from the nose line to the chin. This
is where the lips will be.

Study the Masters

Of
course one of the best ways to learn how to draw is to study the style
of art that you want to emulate. If you are fond of Japanese anime then
you'll want to look at some famous work and see how the shapes and lines
are drawn. If you are fond of realistic portraits then take a good look
at several famous artworks and look for similarities that you can
practice.

None
of this will mean a thing, however, if you don't sit down and draw. The
key to becoming a professional artist is to sit and spend hours
drawing. Draw anything. Don't just focus on what you are interested in.
Draw people, cartoons, flowers, buildings, and more. This will help you
grasp the full relationship of lines, proportions, and basic shapes.

Drawing cartoons is not as simple as it might sound. You want to be able
to draw something that kids and adults will find beautiful but they
should be simple enough that you can replicate the drawing in a short
span of time. Any cartoon character from Mickey Mouse to Patrick Star
can be done with the simplest patterns and lines. However, the other
side to drawing them is to have the right supplies.

You might have the skill and talent but with the wrong supplies your
drawing could go to waste. With the wrong paper your art could smear or
smudge. With the wrong pencils you might end up having a hard time
seeing your outlines or you might make mistakes that are hard to
correct. With that in mind, consider the following tips on how to get
right supplies for cartoon drawing.

Getting the Right PaperYour paper should be on the top of your list. You will want a type of
paper that is not too smooth because smooth paper can lead to smears and
faint lines. You will also want to avoid very rough paper because the
lines could get thick, fuzzy, and hard to control.

Bristol paper and Vellum paper are some of the most popular types used
by professional cartoonists. Comic book artists tend to use Vellum
because of the texture - it is just smooth enough to avoid unnecessary
thick, fuzzy pencil lines but not too smooth to cause severe smears or
smudges. Bristol has several variants so take some time to find which
one works best for you. Sometimes simple Oslo or Office Printing Paper
can do well and a lot of cartoonists use these papers for sketches.

Getting the Right Pencil

The
pencil is going to be your bread and butter. Cartoon drawings tend to
rely on two kinds of lines - one faint line and one thick line for
borders and emphasis lines. However, you need three, not two, types of
pencils.

Go
to any office supply store and look at the pencils. You will notice
they go from 6B to 6H. The H pencils use hard lead, with 6H being the
hardest. This means they do not wear off easily but it also means you
can only get very faint, soft lines. An HB or 2H is a good choice for
doing sketches and outlines.

The
B pencils are the exact opposite. They are soft lead and are much
thicker. They are used for fuzzy, dark, and thick lines. 6B is the
thickest. You'll want to use 2B for finalizing your drawing and then a
3B or 4B for dark emphasis lines.

If
you want to use a mechanical pencil you will notice they come in three
widths. 0.7 is the narrowest lead point, 0.5 is the normal pencil width,
and 0.3 is the widest. In the long run it can be cheaper to use
mechanical pencils than regular pencils that wear down and get shorter.

Getting the Right Eraser

A lot of novice cartoonists forget the importance of a good eraser. You will make mistakes - that is inevitable. Even expert cartoonists who work for comic books and animation studios make mistakes. And even if you rarely do, you still need a good eraser to remove your faint outlines and sketches as you do the final work on your cartoon drawing.

Avoid the usual type of eraser. Rubbing on your pencil work is not going to do you any good. It damages the surface of the sheet. Instead, use gum erasers or kneaded erasers. The problem with gum erasers is that they crumble easily. Kneaded erasers can be pretty fun to play with. You just have to make sure you practice putting pressure when you erase so you know how much pressure will remove a faint line and how much pressure will remove a darker, thick pencil line.